£3m project will bring Star Trek Tricorder to life

Over a period of four years, the team hopes to build a handheld device that can diagnose a multitude of medical conditions. The 'multicorder' will house a selection of custom engineered, cmos based sensors, which will detect around 100 markers in blood or saliva. Project leader Professor David Cumming, from the University of Glasgow's School of Engineering, said: "Diagnostic devices such as pregnancy tests or glucose monitors, which provide rapid feedback for users, have been in use for decades. "The multicorder device we're working on will be capable of providing similarly rapid results but with the capability to diagnose a much wider range of conditions. "What we're hoping is that we'll be able to replicate the capabilities of a whole lab in a single handheld device, making it much easier for doctors, paramedics and other medical professionals to make effective diagnoses. The research is being funded by a £3.4m grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The team hopes to have developed the ics which will underpin the technology within two years. The remaining two years will be spent on research to determine how the system can be used most effectively in the field.